While the digital fraud rate rose to 16.5% across industries during the second quarter of 2021 globally, attempts originating from the Philippines decreased by 59.4%, according to the quarterly analysis of consumer credit reporting agency TransUnion.

The TransUnion report finds fraudsters have shifted their interests in the financial services industry (FSI) with the global online fraud attempt rates rising to 149% when comparing the first four months of 2021 and the last four months of 2020. But when comparing Q2 2021 and Q2 2020, the rate of suspected online financial services fraud attempts has still risen, but at a much lower rate of 18.8% globally.

TransUnion monitors digital fraud attempts reported by businesses in varied industries such as gambling, gaming, financial services, retail, and travel and leisure, among others. The conclusions are based on intelligence from billions of transactions and more than 40,000 websites and apps contained in its flagship identity proofing, risk-based authentication, and fraud analytics solution suite — TransUnion TruValidate.

Digital fraud attempts in financial industry increased by 149% — TransUnion

TransUnion research shows increase in digital fraud attempts against PH consumers

The industries with the largest declines in suspected digital fraud originating from the Philippines during that timeframe were telecommunications (-98.7%), logistics (-71.1%), and financial services (-61.3%). These industries have been the most impacted in previous periods.

“Among all the markets that our research covered, the Philippines recorded the second-biggest decline in the rate of suspected digital fraud originating from that country, next only to Brazil,” said Pia Arellano, president and CEO at TransUnion Philippines. “It is possible fraudsters have recognized the fraud controls our customers have after experiencing them first-hand and have gone elsewhere for the time being. However, constant vigilance is still warranted as we’ll likely see them again in industries where transactions are increasing,”

Gaming

Gaming, and travel and leisure were the two most impacted industries globally for the suspected digital fraud attempt rate, rising 393.0% and 155.9% when comparing Q2 2021 to Q2 2020, respectively. In the Philippines, this rate rose to 51.4% for gaming and 198.5% for travel and leisure during those same timeframes.

In the travel and leisure industry, the top type of fraud globally is credit card fraud. This happens when a customer uses a fake or stolen credit card for a purchase, resulting in a chargeback to the site. In communities, profile misrepresentation is the top fraud type, wherein a user posts inaccurate information in their profile and/or uses bogus profile photos. The global gaming industry is plagued by gold farming, a practice wherein a user sells in-game assets/currency for real-world cash — an act that violates game rules.